Wikipedia

Sidney Webster Fish

Sidney Webster Fish (March 16, 1885 – February 5, 1950) was an American lawyer and military officer who retired from the law and moved to California, becoming a rancher at the Palo Corona Ranch.

Capt. Sidney Webster Fish
Capt. Fish, 1919
Born(1885-03-16)March 16, 1885
New York City, New York
DiedFebruary 2, 1950(1950-02-02) (aged 64)
Carmel, California
EducationGroton School
Alma materHarvard University
Columbia Law School
Spouses
Olga Martha Wiborg
​
​
(m. 1915; died 1937)​
Esther Foss Moore Roark
​
​
(m. 1939)​
ChildrenSidney Stuyvesant Fish
Parent(s)Stuyvesant Fish
Marian Graves Anthon Fish
RelativesHamilton Fish (grandfather)
Nicholas Fish II (uncle)
Hamilton Fish II (uncle)
Hamilton Fish III (cousin)
Hamilton Fish (cousin)

Early life edit

 
Capt. Fish, Maj.-Gen. Henry Tureman Allen, and Capt. Henry T. Allen Jr., 1919

Fish was born on March 16, 1885, in New York City and was named after his uncle, Sidney Webster.[a] A member of the prominent Fish family, he was the youngest of four children of Stuyvesant Fish (1851–1923) and Marian Graves Anthon Fish (1853–1915), a leader of the "The 400". His two surviving siblings were Marian Anthon Fish (1880–1944),[3][4] who married (and divorced) Albert Zabriskie Gray (a son of Judge John Clinton Gray,[5][6][7] and Stuyvesant Fish Jr.,[8] who married Isabelle Mildred Dick (a daughter of Evans R. Dick.[9] Another brother, Livingston Fish, was born and died before Sidney was born.[10]

His paternal grandparents were Hamilton Fish, the 16th Governor of New York, a U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State,[11][b] and Julia Ursin Niemcewicz (née Kean) Fish (sister of Col. John Kean), a descendant of New Jersey governor William Livingston.[14] His maternal grandparents were Sarah Attwood (née Meert) Athon and Gen. William Henry Anthon, a successful lawyer and Staten Island Assemblyman who was a son of jurist John Anthon.[15]

Fish prepared for college at Groton School before graduating from Harvard University, in 1908, and then Columbia Law School.[16]

Career edit

After his admission to the bar, he practiced law until 1928.[16] He was a partner in the firm of Colgate, Parker & Co. with Craig Colgate, Prescott Erskine Wood, Henry S. Parker, Frank Hamilton Davis and Darragh A. Park. In 1921, the firm reorganized as Parker & Company when Colgate, Wood and special partner Louis du Pont Irving withdrew; Fish then became a special partner.[17]

Later life edit

In April 1927, Fish and his wife Olga purchased over 1,000 acres (400 ha), which they named the Palo Corona Ranch in Carmel Valley, California. The ranch was part of the Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito Mexican land grant to the west, with some inland areas within the Rancho Potrero de San Carlos land grant. Fish built a home and ranch on the property and ran a herd of Hereford cattle. In 1929, the ranch barn was designed and built by M. J. Murphy.

In the 1940s, the film National Velvet was partly filmed at the ranch. In the 1930s, Fish hosted Charles Lindbergh at the ranch and, in 1965, his son hosted Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowden at the ranch for dinner.[18] After his sons death, the ranch passed to his widow, Diana Fish.[19][20]

Personal life edit

 
Sidney, his wife Olga, and their son, Sidney, 1926

On September 18, 1915, Fish married Olga Martha Wiborg (1890–1937) at St. Luke's Church in East Hampton, New York. The wedding was quiet due the recent death of his mother.[21] They spent their honeymoon aboard Harold Vanderbilt's yacht Vagrant.[22] Olga was a daughter of Frank Bestow Wiborg and sister to socialite Sara Sherman Wiborg and playwright Mary Hoyt Wiborg.[23] They had a country home known as "Duck Pond" in Roslyn, New York adjoining the August Belmont place,[24] and in North Hempstead, New York adjacent to the estates of Mrs. Frederick Guest, Clarence Mackay, and Harry Payne Whitney.[25] They sold it in 1929,[25] and bought a house in East Hampton, where they were known for their entertaining.[26] Before her death, they were the parents of:

In 1939, he married Esther (née Foss) Moore Roark (1894–1954),[32] the daughter of Massachusetts Governor Eugene Noble Foss. She had previously been married to George Gordon Moore, a polo player whom she divorced in 1933, and Aiden Roark, another polo player whom she married in 1934 and divorced in 1937.[33][34][35]

He died in Carmel on February 5, 1950, and was buried at Monterey City Cemetery.[16] His widow died in November 1954.[36]

References edit

Notes
  1. ^ Sidney Webster (1828–1910), was the husband of Fish's paternal aunt, Sarah Morris (née Fish) Webster (1838–1925).[1] A graduate of Harvard Law School, Webster served as private secretary to President Franklin Pierce before practicing law in New York City where he was a recognized expert on constitutional law. Webster was also a director of the Illinois Central Railroad, of which Fish's father, Stuyvesant Fish, was the longtime president.[2]
  2. ^ Fish's grandfather, Hamilton Fish, was a son of Nicholas Fish and Elizabeth (née Stuyvesant) Fish (a great-great-granddaughter of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam.[12][13])
Sources
  1. ^ Times, Special to The New York (17 February 1923). "Mrs. Sarah Morris Fish Webster". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  2. ^ "SIDNEY WEBSTER, NOTED LAWYER, DEAD; Corporation and International Law Authority--Once Secretary of President Pierce. ILLINOIS CENTRAL DIRECTOR Mentor of Late E. H. Harriman, Who Wrote to Him His Celebrated "Where Do I Stand?" Letter". The New York Times. 31 May 1910. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Obituary 1 -- No Title". The New York Times. 31 January 1944. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  4. ^ "MRS. MARION FISH GRAY; Daughter of Late Stuyvesant Fish, Illinois Rail Head". The New York Times. 30 January 1944. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Albert Z. Gray Dies at 83". The New York Times. 30 August 1964. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  6. ^ "ALBERT Z. GRAY WEDS MISS MARIAN FISH; 5,000 Guests Invited to the Ceremony at St. Bartholomew's in Madison Avenue. CRUSH AT THE CHURCH Guests Present from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and Elsewhere -- MacCracken-Dodd Wedding". The New York Times. 13 June 1907. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  7. ^ "DIVORCES ALBERT Z. GRAY.; Wife Waives Alimony in Obtaining Decree at Newport". The New York Times. 5 December 1934. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  8. ^ "STUYVESANT FISH, FINANCIER, DEAD; Retired Stockbroker, 69, Was of Family Noted in Society Father Headed Railroad". The New York Times. 27 June 1952. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  9. ^ "STUYVESANT FISH, JR., TO WED; Engaged to Miss Mildred Dick. Daughter of Evans R. Dick". The New York Times. 6 May 1910. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  10. ^ College, Radcliffe (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. p. 620. ISBN 9780674627345. Retrieved 7 April 2017. Sarah Attwood Meert anthon.
  11. ^ American Heritage Editors (December, 1981), The Ten Best Secretaries Of State….
  12. ^ Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1916). Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York City. The Society. p. 22. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  13. ^ Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1908). The Prominent Families of the United States of America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 385. ISBN 9780806313085. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  14. ^ Corning (1918), pp. 20-22.
  15. ^ "OBITUARY.; GEN. WILLIAM HENRY ANTHON". The New York Times. 9 November 1875. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  16. ^ a b c "SIDNEY W. FISH, 64, ONCE LAWYER HERE". The New York Times. 7 February 1950. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  17. ^ "Colgate, Parker & Co". New-York Tribune. 3 May 1921. p. 17. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  18. ^ a b "S. Stuyvesant Fish. Rancher, host to English royalty". The San Francisco Examiner. 16 May 1988. p. 11. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Fish Ranch goes on market with price tag of $7.5 million". The San Francisco Examiner. 26 November 1995. p. 78. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  20. ^ Abraham, Kera (30 August 2014). "Palo Corona Regional Park neighbor threatens legal challenge to parking lot project". Monterey County Weekly. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  21. ^ "TO WED SON OF LEADER OF "THE 400"". Orlando Evening Star. 6 August 1915. p. 9. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  22. ^ "MISS WlBORG, BRIDE OF SIDNEY W. FISH; Youngest Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. B. Wiborg Married in St. Luke's, East Hampton. HER SISTERS ATTENDANTS A Simple Ceremony Owing to Recent Death of Bridegroom's Mother Honeymoon on Vanderbilt Yacht". The New York Times. 19 September 1915. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  23. ^ "MRS. SIDNEY FISH, A SOCIETY WOMAN; Member of the East Hampton Summer Colony Dies at Her California Home". The New York Times. 19 April 1937. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  24. ^ a b "Sidney Stuyvesant Fish Birth Announcement". New York Daily News. 21 June 1921. p. 15. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  25. ^ a b "NASSAU COUNTY DEALS; Long Island Country Place of Sidney W. Fish Sold". The New York Times. 16 August 1929. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  26. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (18 August 1934). "CLAMBAKE PLANNED AT EAST HAMPTON; Mr. and Mrs. Sidney W. Fish Will Entertain Tonight -- The Robert Scheys Have Guests". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Stuyvesant Fish is Hero, Saves 2 from Undertow at Beach". The Pomona Progress Bulletin. 20 July 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Sidney Stuyvesant Fish and Virginia Small Recite Vows". The Los Angeles Times. 9 November 1954. p. 53. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  29. ^ Moffat, Frances (14 December 1959). "2d Honeymoon. Stuyvesant Fish and Wife Drop Plan for Divorce". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 9. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish Is In Reno Again". The San Francisco Examiner. 7 September 1960. p. 21. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  31. ^ "Romantic Surprise From the Islands". The San Francisco Examiner. 8 April 1965. p. 27. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  32. ^ Cutter, William Richard (1910). Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts. Lewis historical Publishing Company. pp. 2462–2464. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  33. ^ "Wife Divorces Aidan Roark". New York Times. December 23, 1937. Retrieved 2011-04-07. Mrs. Esther F. Roark, formerly of Boston and Pebble Beach, Calif., won a divorce today from Aidan Roark, film executive and polo star. She testified that he was rude and brusque.
  34. ^ "MRS. SIDNEY FISH". The New York Times. 27 November 1954. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  35. ^ "SIDNEY FISH MARRIES; Mrs. Esther Foss Roark Is Bride of New Yorker in West". The New York Times. 11 January 1939. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  36. ^ Times, Special to The New York (27 November 1954). "MRS. SIDNEY FISH". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2023.

External links edit

 
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